Can brushing and flossing prevent sexually transmitted virus?

People with poor oral health, such as gum disease and dental problems, are more likely to be infected with the sexually transmitted infection that can cause mouth and throat cancer, according to a Houston study.

The study, the first to link such an association, found the odds of having an oral human papillomavirus were 55 percent higher among those reporting poor to fair oral health.

“Poor oral health is a new independent risk factor for oral HPV infection,” Thanh Cong Bui, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, said in a statement. “The good news is, this risk factor is modifiable – by maintaining good oral hygiene and good oral health, one can prevent HPV infection and subsequent HPV-related cancers.”

Bui suggested that because the virus needs wounds in the mouth to enter and infect the oral cavity, poor oral health may create an entry portal. But she said there is not enough evidence to support the theory and called for further research to understand the relationship.

Bui’s team looked at data on oral health and the presence or absence of both low-risk and high-risk oral human papillomavirus infections for 3,439 adults, ages 30 to 69, who participated in a national survey in 2009-2010.

The study reported that being male, smoking cigarettes or marijuana and having multiple oral sex partners increased the likelihood of oral human papillomavirus infection, none new findings. But it also found, after controlling for smoking and the number of oral sex partners, that self-rated overall oral health was an independent risk factor for the virus. Those with gum disease had a 51 percent higher prevalence of the virus and those with dental problems had a 28 percent higher prevalence. The researchers also found a link between infections and the number of lost teeth.

Throat cancer, which includes the tonsils and back part of the tongue, is on the increase in nonsmokers in their 30s, 40s and 50s after being linked to smoking and drinking in older people historically. The link with the human papillomavirus was first reported by researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in 2007.

The study, published in Cancer Prevention Research, did not look at poor oral hygiene and cancer, just poor oral hygiene and HPV.